I do tradeshow setup (and tear-down), among other things, in my day job.

One of the challenges I often face is that we have a display on a wall driven by a computer of some sort - that is behind said wall.

Obviously, it can be a pain (and sometimes nearly impossible) to get behind the wall to gain access to the machine.  Network accessibility of the machine is hit-and-miss since they’re normally rented machines and we often change network topology (or simply don’t have the machine connected for one reason or another).

So normally, this means I have to run a USB extension cable through the wall and conveniently hide it behind the monitor.  That works, but it’s a bit of a security risk (any putz can come and plug something in to mess up my demo), and if I want to hook up both keyboard and mouse, I need to run two cables or have a bus-powered hub handy.

I like to use laptops to drive these screens since they’re easier to stash and have integrated displays.  Luckily, the last batch of laptops we rented had built-in Bluetooth, and I had my Bluetooth keyboard I (rarely) use with my phone!

Instant remote control!  Next show I’ll bring my IOGEAR GKM611B multi-link Bluetooth keyboard, so I can control up to 6 machines.

Mind you I wouldn’t trust this more than a few feet, especially in a radio-heavy tradeshow environment, but it sure was convenient for the occasional presentation-swap!